What Made You Ugly In Ancient Rome?

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What was a Roman skincare routine like? Why did the beard make a comeback under Emperor Hadrian? And what did it mean to be ugly in this time?

In this new mini-series, we'll be exploring the beauty standards - and ideas of ugliness - throughout time periods in history.

Starting today with Ancient Rome, Kate is joined by historian and author Emma Southon to find out why Romans would have loved the recent bushy eyebrow trend.

Find out more about Emma's work here: https://www.emmasouthon.com/

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm your host, Kate Lister.
0:02.4	If you would like betwixt the sheets, add free and get early access, sign up to History Hit.
0:08.7	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of original documentaries with top history presenters.
0:16.0	And enjoy a new release every single week.
0:19.8	Sign up now by visiting history hit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:24.5	Hello, my lovely Bertwixters.
0:26.3	It's me, Kate Lister, and you are listening to Bertwix the Sheets.
0:30.2	And I'm so, so glad that you are.
0:31.8	And if you're new here, this is the first time you've ever listened to Betwix the sheets,
0:35.2	well, then we're extra, extra pleased to have you here.
0:37.8	And we have something for you. This is called the Fair Do's Warning. This is an adult podcast
0:42.2	spoken by adults to other adults about adulty things in an adulty way, covering a range of adult
0:45.5	subjects and you should be an adult too. And we have to tell you that because you might just
0:49.5	have wandered in here thinking Betwixt the Sheets is some kind of podcast about interior design or bed furnishings.
0:55.4	And it's not. It's a smutty rude podcast. And if you listen to this and you keep getting offended,
1:00.0	well, I'm afraid just tough tits. That one's on you because fair do's. We did warn you. Right. On with the show.
1:10.0	Speaking as a historian and somebody living in the Year of Our Lord 2025,
1:14.4	one way that you can accurately, with pinpoint precision, measure time, is with eyebrow trends.
1:21.6	Just bear with me on this one.
1:23.8	For instance, I have friends who are still in recovery from the pencil-thin eyebrow era of the 90s.
1:29.3	Hashtag never forget.
1:33.3	And here, in a Roman bathhouse of all places, eyebrows are still a big deal.
	...

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